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denI have just been handed a yellow bellied sheathtailed bat. She weighs 47 grams and has a wingspan of 50cm. That's 1/2 a METRE. She's HUGE!
And she's beautiful! She has fur like black velvet on her back, but her belly is a creamy white colour. Her foxy-face, wings and tail are a deep, shiny black. She's on the Schedule 2 Vulnerable list.
But
She was caught on a barbed wire fence and has lost the end joints of her left "little finger" and "ring finger." I'll take her to the zoovets tomorrow to see if anything can be done, but I think they'll recommend euthenasing her. I won't like that at all.
And
Sheathtailed bats are recognized carriers of lyssavirus. And she bit me right through the glove and drew blood. Bugger. My immunoglobulin levels are well up and I might not need a booster, but ABL isn't an instant-death thing so I have plenty of time to plan things out. The doc at the Base Hospital says we should keep the bat for 10 days to see if it is affected by the disease. He isn't concerned so I won't be.
I just want to hug her and pat her and call her George, except George isn't a female name that starts with "I", and she has very sharp teeth, and doesn't like being patted. Okay, so that wasn't such a good idea.
And she's beautiful! She has fur like black velvet on her back, but her belly is a creamy white colour. Her foxy-face, wings and tail are a deep, shiny black. She's on the Schedule 2 Vulnerable list.
But
She was caught on a barbed wire fence and has lost the end joints of her left "little finger" and "ring finger." I'll take her to the zoovets tomorrow to see if anything can be done, but I think they'll recommend euthenasing her. I won't like that at all.
And
Sheathtailed bats are recognized carriers of lyssavirus. And she bit me right through the glove and drew blood. Bugger. My immunoglobulin levels are well up and I might not need a booster, but ABL isn't an instant-death thing so I have plenty of time to plan things out. The doc at the Base Hospital says we should keep the bat for 10 days to see if it is affected by the disease. He isn't concerned so I won't be.
I just want to hug her and pat her and call her George, except George isn't a female name that starts with "I", and she has very sharp teeth, and doesn't like being patted. Okay, so that wasn't such a good idea.
